MISC: Pokéballs. They're not indestructible, but are damn close. Well, they're pretty much impervious to impact, at least. Crystal can kick it so hard that it appears to be traveling at supersonic speed, yet doesn't even crack. Gold can hit it as hard as he can with his indestructible billiard cue, and have the Pokéball smash into a rock, or hit it hard enough that it bounces off the wall, ceiling, opposite wall, and the floor over and over again, yet the ball would never crack. You could even have Groudon step on it and I doubt that anything will happen to the Pokéball… And these things are only worth 200 PKD (1 USD by my currency)… Now I'm curious… has a Pokéball ever been smashed in Pokémon Special?
Primary: Gold & Crystal.
Rampage:
Goldenrod City arcade…
Platinum watched with interest as Gold battled Silver in a computer game. It was something called a 'real time strategy' game, and it piqued her interest. She requested for the game manual, and Gold tossed it to her.
The heiress read through the manual and found the key information. The different classes of soldiers and their placement seemed quite important. There were 4 classes of soldiers, various levels per each type, and a few vehicles for fortress attack. There were also specific soldier types specialized for terrain.
Silver was playing in another room, so Platinum could only watch Gold's screen. From what she could tell, the goggled boy was getting thrashed. Curiosity overcoming her, she carefully requested if she could play as well, and Gold let her take over. Within 10 minutes, Platinum was now winning. Silver kept sending messages, wondering how Gold suddenly became so good (he didn't know that Platinum was in Goldenrod, as the heiress had only dropped by half an hour ago while touring around the city).
Gold typed his message. "Well, well, well. Looks like I beat your ass good. Time to pay, Silver." He turned to look at Platinum once the game ended. "Thanks a lot. I couldn't have done it without you." He then typed another message. "31 times you've beaten me, but this time, I beat you, all alone, with absolutely no one's help whatsoever!" He turned to Platinum and put a finger to his mouth, telling her to keep it a secret.
Silver had typed a message again, it seemed. Gold didn't bother to look, but Platinum read the message and looked alerted. She told her senior, and the goggled boy turned to read the message. He quickly rose to his feet and ran out of the room, and Platinum followed.
"Gold, sis just sent me a message. Get over to Viridian City ASAP. It's Crys."
By the time Gold and Platinum were outside in the streets of Goldenrod, Silver had already left, flying as fast as possible on his Honchkrow. Platinum volunteered to take the Magnet Train to Saffron City and then taking a bus straight to Viridian City, as Gold's Mantine (and Remoraids) could only carry one person.
With thrust (the power of the water from Remoraids in this case) at maximum, Gold reached Viridian City within an hour, speeding past Silver in the process. In Viridian, Gold could see a familiar looking Aerodactyl and a Xatu flying towards the hospital. Since he was already on the ground, he ran after them.
When he got there, he could see Red running with someone in his arms and Blue limping after him. As Gold ran past her, he could see quite a lot of blood trickling from her knee. But he ignored her and ran after Red.
"Senior Red!"
"Sure, run past your senior who has a BROKEN F*CKING KNEE!" Blue screamed at him, showing anger for a change. The goggled boy ignored her unusual burst.
When Red turned around, Gold could see Crystal lying unconscious in his arms, bandages wrapped around her head. The goggled boy offered to take over, and Red let him. As Gold lifted Crystal onto his back, Red ran back to help Blue, who had been waiting.
Blue was diagnosed with a broken knee cap (and a big piece of jagged rock sticking out of the knee, whose pain was quickly draining her patience), while Crystal had a concussion and would remain unconscious for a short while. The explanation was that Blue and Crystal went to visit Red in Mt. Silver, but on the way they were caught in a rock slide.
While Gold regained his composure at the news that Crystal would recover, Emerald remained panicky. To his relief, the Johto girl woke up the next day.
"You're awake!" Emerald said happily. "You really had us worried."
Crystal groaned and put a hand on her bandaged head. "What happened to me?"
"We were caught in a rock slide while we went to visit Red," Blue replied. "Gold must've been really worried. He got here faster than anyone, you know."
Before Gold said anything, Crystal spoke first. "Who's Gold?"
The goggled boy shook his head. "Ha ha, very funny, Super Serious Gal. You know, Wildchild Girl over there already tried this."
"Who?"
"Seriously, Crys, enough," Gold said with a sigh.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Crystal replied.
Gold spent enough time with her to know that she was telling the truth. Her expression didn't show a hint of faking.
"Ha, that's a good one," the goggled boy said. He was trying to convince himself that Crystal was faking. Even when the doctor came inside and told everyone that Crystal may have partial amnesia, he didn't believe it. But eventually, he snapped. "AH, SHIT!" He smashed his billiard cue on the nearest wall (denting the wall as a result) and left.
"He has some… issues, doesn't he?" Crystal said once the door slammed shut.
"Considering the relationship between the two of you, it's understandable," Blue said with a sigh.
"Relationship? With him? That's impossible!" Crystal said. She winced as her head suddenly gave a jolt of pain.
"Senior Crystal? Do you… remember me?" Platinum asked with a worried expression.
Crystal shook her head. "I don't remember any of you."
Green sighed. "This is going to be a problem. I'll need to tell my grandfather that his assistant is out of commission for a while." He looked at Crystal. "You're supposed to submit a report on the differences between Pokémon living on mountains and caves, but I guess it'll have to be postponed until after your… 'vacation'. Try to recover within a week, two weeks at most."
"Um… okay?"
"And when you recover, come visit the lab."
Green left right after, along with everyone except Silver, Blue, Platinum, and Emerald.
"You don't remember me either?" Emerald asked. "Earl's Academy, the 10th Dex Holder, capturing Jirachi, anything?"
"The 10th what?" Crystal had a blank look on her face. "Um… sorry, I don't know…"
Emerald looked down in disappointment and slowly walked out. Blue signaled Platinum to go after him and see if she could cheer him up. She turned to Crystal and told her to get some rest so her physical injury may heal faster.
"Silver, go find Gold, and… try to get him to lighten up."
With the help of a crutch, Blue walked back to her own room so that she may rest as well.
Next morning…
Silver came to visit Blue and check her knee.
"I'll live, Silver," Blue said, signaling him to calm down. "How's Gold doing?"
"He's… uh… distressed, I guess," Silver replied. "He's acting quite different. More aggressive in everything, as if he's venting his anger."
Blue sighed. "We need him calm. The last thing we need is another Dex Holder out of commission due to anger. Silver, call the others, and see if Crys is awake."
4 hours later, New Bark Town…
Gold moved left and right, trying to find a good shot in his game of pool. Quickly losing his patience, he cursed, jumped onto a chair, and used his billiard cue as a golf club, striking the cue ball as hard as he could. The ball went flying off the table and smashed into the wall with a loud thud. Noticing that the ball was now stuck in the wall, Gold cursed again and went to pry it back out. Once he got the ball out and tossed it back onto the pool table, he heard a knock on the door.
When he opened the door, he found Platinum waiting outside. She bowed politely as a greeting, and Gold let her in.
"So, what do you want?" he asked rather roughly as he returned to his recreation room downstairs.
"I wanted to ask how you were doing," the heiress said, noticing how much of a mess her senior's room had become. She tried her best to avoid the pieces of shattered glass on the floor (it wouldn't hurt her because of her boots, but she didn't want shards of glass ruining them). "Also, I came to inform you that senior Crystal has slowly begun regaining her memory."
"Really?"
"Yes. She successfully remembered senior Emerald when he brought a picture of Earl's Academy. I believe that a significant item or an object of her past is bringing back her memories."
"That's good! I'll go get a picture of Lugia or something and take it to her then," Gold said with a happy expression.
"Um… it is not that simple," Platinum muttered nervously. Gold looked at her, demanding an explanation. "We told senior Crystal of her… relationship with you, and she detests the idea. She made it clear that she does not wish to see you…"
Gold clenched the handle of his billiard cue so hard his hand turned white. After a few seconds, he suddenly calmed down. "Fine. If it makes her happy, then fine. Go back to her and tell her to forget about me. Oh wait, she already did, didn't she?"
"Senior?"
"I always feared this would happen. I always thought that she'd leave me someday. To think that it would actually happen…" Gold turned to glare at Platinum. "What are you still doing here? I told you to go back and tell her to forget me!"
"Senior, you are frightening me…"
"I said NOW!" Gold yelled, slamming the cue on the wall directly over the heiress's head. Platinum shrieked in surprise and covered her head with her arms. Seeing her terrified expression, the goggled boy took a deep breath to try to calm down. "… Sorry," he said quietly. "Just go."
Platinum bowed and hastily ran out through the door. Once she left, Gold looked around his room, at all the dents and holes in the wall.
"This is going to cost a shitload money to fix…" As he began cleaning the room of shattered glass, his Pokégear rang. He checked, and noticed that Emerald had called. "What do you want?"
"I think you should hear this," Emerald said quietly. He increased the volume so that Gold could hear what was going on.
"Listen, all of you," came Crystal's voice. "Right now, I only remember Yellow and Emerald, and I will remember the rest of you in time. But I don't want to remember that Gold fellow. There is no way that we were dating! I would never like a guy like him! I'm beginning to think that this is just a-"
Gold hung up and threw his Pokégear onto the pool table. With another curse, he left his house. He headed towards Olivine City, with the intention of taking the ferry to Hoenn.
When he returned a week later, he noticed that there were over 100 missed calls on his Pokégear. Majority of the calls came from Emerald and Red, and a few from the other Dex Holders, all trying to check on his condition. Gold deleted the missed calls list and then blocked Crystal's number. The last thing he wanted was the girl herself to call and check on his condition.
A few hours later, Soul called. Gold picked up, wondering what she wanted. It was pretty obvious why she called, but he couldn't ignore his childhood friend.
"… Gold? Are you okay?" she asked, her voice filled with worry. "Where were you? You weren't home for the past several days."
"Hoenn. A vacation, I guess."
"… I heard from Silver. I just want to say, if you need any support…"
"Oh great, so you heard everything," Gold said roughly. "I don't need your support! I'm perfectly fine! What do you think?"
"Gold, don't you think you're overreacting? Crys only forgot about you because of her amnesia, and what she said was probably because of-"
"Soul, I'll be honest. I always thought that it was too good to be true. I always suspected that Crys pretended to like me because she felt pity. So-"
"You can't possibly-"
"I'm not finished. Anyways, so now Crys has amnesia, forgets about me, and look what happens. I was right. It was too good to be true. She no longer feels pity for me, so she's being completely honest. And look. She hates me now." Gold sighed. "Only if she told me earlier… Oh well." Before Soul could say anything, he hung up.
He tossed the Pokégear away again and went up to his bedroom. There wasn't anything much to do, so he was going to take a nap.
Viridian City hospital…
"Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Dia, Pearl, and Platinum," Crystal called, pointing to each Dex Holder. "And wherever Silver went. Of course I remember you all. I think my amnesia disappeared! I remember Professor Oak, everything about Pokémon capturing, Earl's Academy, the orphans, capturing Jirachi, everything!"
"You still don't remember Gold, do you?" Blue asked.
"I thought we weren't going to mention that guy."
Silver returned to the room as he put his Pokégear back into his pocket. "Soul called. She said that Gold was at Hoenn for the last week. That's why he didn't answer any of our calls."
"Soul… why do I dislike her?" Crystal muttered. She closed her eyes and tried to remember.
"She's the childhood friend of Gold, and you're jealous of the fact that she's really close to him," Blue said.
"That can't be true."
"Crys, call Gold. He's back from Hoenn, so you should be able to contact him."
"Fine, I'll call," Crystal said with a sigh. "Wait, where's my Pokégear?" she asked when she received Silver's Pokégear.
Green tossed her bag (which was on the floor in front of the bed) and she caught it. She dug inside, found her Pokégear and instantly noticed that Gold's number was the first number on the contact list. But when she called, she realized that her number had been blocked.
"He blocked my number," she said with a frown on her face. "I wonder why."
"Um… I believe that you hurt his pride, senior Crystal," Platinum said from beside.
She sighed and told everyone what she saw when she went to Gold's house several days earlier. She didn't tell anyone because she thought that it was just her senior angry from what happened, but now she realized that it was more than that.
"He… he told me to forget about him?" Crystal asked disbelievingly. "Did he actually say that? He doesn't seem like the kind to say such things."
"I'm telling you, you and Gold were dating before this whole mess started," Blue said from beside. "But hearing him like this… You really hurt him. The least you can do is go and talk to him before he destroys himself."
Crystal nodded. She felt sorry for Gold, and felt guilty because she was the one who caused him to rampage.
Several hours later (after getting checked by the doctor, taking a shower, and getting ready to visit), Crystal arrived at New Bark Town with Silver.
She recognized Gold's big fancy house and it triggered the memory from the time when she visited for the first time. Silver knocked, but no one came to open the door (Gold was asleep, his mother was shopping in Goldenrod). With a sigh, Silver reached into his pocket and turned to face Crystal.
"You remember about my past right?" he asked. Crystal nodded. "The whole Mask of Ice and what I've been through?" Again, Crystal nodded. "So you won't be surprised by what I'm about to do, right?" With another sigh, he pulled out the tools required to pick the lock. He didn't like picking locks in public, but there was no choice. At least it was dark outside (around midnight), so no one could see. But although the main lock was picked 5 minutes later, the door still wouldn't fully open, as there was another lock that only opened from the inside. Silver looked at Crystal once more. "Now, you're sure that you won't be surprised?"
"Um… yeah, I guess. What are you going to do?"
Silver reached into another pocket and pulled out what looked like a… Crystal gasped in shock.
"Silver! Is that a knife? How long did you have it?"
"Since I was ten. Don't think about it too much," Silver replied. He jammed the end of his knife into the second lock and hammered the handle, effectively smashing the lock.
Once the door fully opened, Silver led Crystal to Gold's recreation room, thinking that Gold would be down there. But no one was there.
Crystal could remember being in the room before, and as she noticed each dent and hole in the wall, felt worse and worse. On the pool table, she spotted something: a photo, just ripped into 4 pieces. Upon putting them together, she gasped in shock. The photo was a picture of her first kiss, the one with Gold…
"This… this was from Sinnoh!" Crystal exclaimed. "I remember! It was my birthday and… we all went to Platinum's mansion… then we went on a ski trip and…" She gasped again. "Gold!" She hastily ran upstairs to his bedroom, and just as she thought, she could hear him snoring. She knocked on the door as hard as she could. "Gold, this is Crystal! Open up!" she yelled, when nothing happened. "I remember everything! Open up!"
Before long, the door opened and Gold appeared, billiard cue in hand. He didn't look surprised or happy to see her at all.
"Did you not notice me sleeping?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Gold, I remember everything! Listen, I'm so sorry for-" Crystal started, but Gold cut her off.
"You can stop pretending, Crystal. I already know."
The Johto girl gasped. When was the last time Gold called her by her full name? "W – What do you mean pretending?"
"You don't have to worry about hurting my feelings. If you really wanted to leave me, then just leave. Don't pretend to like me."
"B – But… I – I really do like you…"
"Scram," Gold said coldly. He roughly pushed past her and went downstairs to his recreation room.
After a moment of shock, Crystal followed. Downstairs, Silver was still looking at the dents and holes in the wall.
"Hey, Silver. Care to play a game of pool?" the goggled boy asked.
Silver glanced at Crystal's worried expression then at Gold's angry face, and wondered what happened.
"Gold, please listen," the Johto girl said. "I didn't mean what-"
"You've said enough. Go away now."
Silver looked surprised. He glanced back and forth between his two friends. Realizing that this was a dispute he could not afford to get involved with, he walked away, ignoring Gold yelling at him to get back.
Gold cursed and set up the pool table nonetheless and prepared to take a shot. Crystal put a hand on his shoulder. "Please…"
"You're really clueless, aren't you? I'll say it again. Listen carefully," Gold snapped, glaring at her. "You. Said. Enough. Now beat it." Seeing the hurt expression on her face, he softened a little. "Listen. You would've been happier if you didn't remember me. So go away and do whatever to forget me. I'll be perfectly fine."
Crystal started to cry. "I – I'm sorry…"
Gold turned to his pool table and tried to focus on taking a shot. But hearing Crystal cry made him lose focus. He turned to look at her again and studied her expression. She really wasn't pretending. She turned away and tried to leave, but he stopped her.
"Wait, Crys," he said with a sigh. "I'm… sorry. It's been a… frustrating week. I missed you."
"I'm really sorry, Gold. I don't want to lose you…" Crystal wiped away the tears and tried to calm down. "I missed you too…"
"You said that you didn't want to remember me. You also said that you would never like a guy like me."
Crystal sighed. "When we first met, I did believe that I would never like you. But after all we've been through, I began to like you. I really do love you, Gold. A few days ago, I didn't remember anything, which was why I said I wouldn't like you." She trembled as she suppressed more tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "I was never pretending to like you. I always loved you since the year before we started dating. I… I don't know if you want to believe me…"
Gold glanced around. Seeing how Silver wasn't there anymore, he gently kissed Crystal.
"I believe you." The goggled boy took a deep breath and grinned in the way that was so familiar to Crystal. "Hey, Super Serious Gal, if you're willing to give me one more chance, how about I take you on a vacation?"
"Didn't you just come from a vacation? Besides, Green told me that I have some reports to finish," Crystal replied, relieved by the pleasantly familiar grin and the not-so-pleasantly familiar nickname.
"You just recovered from amnesia. Don't you think that you need a vacation?"
"Well, Green did tell me to recover within two weeks at most… I guess that means I still have a week of 'recovery'…"
"So what do you say?"
Crystal smiled and kissed him. "I'd love to go with you."
I originally wanted to title this as "Memory Loss II", but that would've given away too much. Anyways, here's preview Scene 2:
Platinum watched in horror as her senior remained perfectly motionless in the water tank. Blue had come to try to rescue her, but ended up being captured as well. And now, she had been trapped in a water tank for 10 minutes, and had stopped moving a while ago.
The lone grunt that was supposed to make sure the prisoners did NOT die hurriedly ran over and dragged her motionless body out of the water. Her eyes were slightly open but were blank. The grunt kicked her in the ribs to see if she was just unconscious, and seeing how there was no reaction, checked her pulse.
The heiress began to cry when the grunt shook his head and walked over to a phone. He stood right in front of the phone, wondering how the hell he was going to tell his supervisor that a prisoner under his watch drowned… He remembered his superior's orders quite clearly…
"Now remember. If she dies, we ALL die. She has some really powerful friends, remember, and they'll be seriously pissed if we kill her. We're already losing. No need to piss off the enemy. Also, if anything happens to her, I'll gut you personally. So, make sure nothing happens to her!"
"Senior…" Platinum muttered as tears streamed down her cheeks. But to her surprise, her senior's face started to melt off, and the heiress realized that it was a Ditto mask (that reached past her neck).
Blue, who had used a fake mask of herself to pretend she drowned (the grunt couldn't feel her pulse through the Ditto) and to ensure that she had a method of breathing (the Ditto made air pockets behind the neck, invisible because of the trainer's hair). Once the Ditto rolled off of her face, she carefully looked around. The grunt was looking in the opposite direction, still staring at the phone.
With a grin, Blue spat out a paper clip (which she had hidden before she was captured) which landed on her stomach. Her Ditto was too weak to transform into a key, so she had to break the chains herself. Her hands were tied behind her, so she twisted and turned until the paper clip landed on her hand. A few minutes later, she had successfully picked the lock and now her hands were free. She sat up and picked the lock tying her ankles together.
Afterwards, she rose to her feet and stretched. She massaged her ribs where the grunt kicked her and grumbled silently about improper treatment of prisoners. She looked over at Platinum and put a finger to her lips, telling her to remain silent.
The older girl silently walked closer to the grunt, wondering how she should take care of the situation. Standing right behind the grunt, she straightened her clothes and crossed her arms. She noticed that the grunt had a knife on the table. She eyed it and planned her move.
Just as the grunt was reaching for the phone, Blue put an arm around his throat, kicked him behind the knees and held the knife in the other hand.
"Bad news," Blue said rather angrily. The heiress noted that her senior sounded… scary.
"Y – You're alive?" the grunt exclaimed. "Yes! I'm saved! I'm safe now! I'm…" he trailed off when Blue put more pressure on his neck. "Oh, right…"
"… Sure. You're safe. We'll see how long you stay that way."
"How did you get free?"
"Listen, I'm not feeling too good right now. Under any other circumstance I'd jump at the chance to…" Blue trailed off, remembering what she was supposed to do. She moved the knife in front of the grunt's eyes. "Anyways, don't try anything. Keep your hands where I can see them. If you move, well… I'd have to cut you a second smile."
"Okay, I'll cooperate…"
"Good."
Guess where the inspiration for this scene came from. Another blatantly obvious copy… I might as well put up a disclaimer.
Disclaimer: the quotes/ideas that I've taken from other video games (and other media) are clearly not mine. … There are worse disclaimers.
If you know where the 'hidden' quote from this preview scene came from, then good for you.
Added after SE #024: The Set Up II…
What Could Have Been:
"You've said enough. Go away now."
Silver looked surprised. He glanced back and forth between his two friends, wondering what he should do. Gold looked away and began setting up the pool table. Crystal put a hand on his shoulder.
"Please…"
"You're really clueless, aren't you? I'll say it again. Listen carefully," Gold snapped, glaring at her. "You. Said. Enough. Now beat it."
Crystal started to cry. "I – I'm sorry…" She covered her face with her hands as she cried, and Gold returned his focus to the pool table after glaring at her for a few more seconds.
Silver decided that he needed to snap Gold back into his senses. Without warning, he stepped forward and punched the goggled boy in the face. Gold gritted his teeth and retaliated with a punch of his own, officially starting a fight that had both Johto Dex Holders rolling on the ground in a cloud of dust, throwing wild punches at each other.
Crystal looked surprised and tried to stop her two friends from fighting. But in the process, Gold accidentally hit her in the mouth with one of his wild punches. Crystal staggered backwards and fell. Gold saw her fall and instantly stopped fighting.
"Hey, Crys, you okay?" he asked as he kneeled beside her. He held 3 fingers in front of her eyes. "How many fingers am I holding?"
Crystal groaned as she put a finger in her mouth. When she pulled the finger out, she could see some blood on the fingertip.
"Does it matter, Gold?" she asked with a sigh. "If… if you want me to leave that much, fine…" She tried to stand up, but Gold stopped her.
"Wait, Crys," he said with a sigh. "I'm… sorry. It's been a… frustrating week. I missed you."
At this time, Silver headed upstairs, feeling the need to leave his two friends alone. Also, he couldn't stand the emotions…